Driving Each Other Crazy
by Kammie Celeek
Summary: On the road to Xadia, Callum and Rayla figure out how to work through issues of trust, grief, and learning to let someone else take the freaking wheel so you can get some goddamn sleep.


**Not really having anything to do with anything, but my computer's acting up. If I try to open a blank word document, it'll open up two. I have no idea why and I just wanted to share. In other news, I turned twenty recently and I just finished up my third semester of college with my lowest grade being a C+ in math (very rare for me; I'm garbage at math). Also, I mentioned this idea in a prompt on Tumblr ( kamije_celeek, if you want to check it out) and in the notes of my story 'Halfling', but since I can't write it in its entirety I decided to do what I call a 'highlight reel', where I write the scenes I was able to do and post them for your reading pleasure.**

** Featuring Rayllum being awkward, adorable, embarrassed, totally-in-love dorks. Also Rayla cursing because why not.**

** Here goes nothing…**

* * *

"You need to sleep."

"I'll sleep when the egg's back with its mother."

Callum sighed and threw his head back in frustration as Rayla kept her violet eyes on the road ahead.

It had been three days since they'd left Katolis, and in that time, Rayla had been driving them across the kingdom. She was the only one in the driver's seat, going day and night despite Callum's insistence that he could drive, too. He could see the bags under her eyes and the exhaustion setting in. It wouldn't hurt her to just stop, let him drive, and ride in the passenger's seat where she could get some shut-eye and not have to keep her horns covered with her dark green hoodie for fear of people seeing her through the window. Not to mention the dark purple color her left hand was turning.

"Rayla, I don't know much about elves—"

"That's an understatement."

"—but I know that humans need sleep in order to function. And I don't think we're so different that you don't need it, too. You're limiting yourself and it's going to make you less able in a fight."

Rayla angrily flipped the turn signal, muttering something about dumbass human princes and stupid fucking opinions as she pulled off at the next exit. She brought them to a stop at a gas station, where she unbuckled her seatbelt.

"Get out. If you're so desperate ta drive, let's switch."

"All right, then."

"Huh?" Ezran mumbled, sitting up in the backseat. "Are we stopping?"

"Just for a minute so Rayla and I can switch," Callum replied.

"Can you wait a minute? I have to go to the bathroom."

"Go ahead. We'll wait for you."

"Wait here, Bait." Ezran slid out of the car and ran into the store part of the station. Rayla sat down in the passenger's seat, looking very displeased with the situation as Callum got into the driver's side. He gave her a satisfied smile, which she scoffed at.

"Get some sleep. You'll need it. We're about to hit the mountains, which means that the air's gonna get pretty thin."

Ezran came out a minute later, dashing back in to buy some water for everyone. As he was paying, Rayla glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed a car driving up. The man was unassuming, but underneath his jacket she could see a blade. Her eyes widened. He hadn't seen them yet, but he would soon. Her heart was pounding as Ezran got into the car and she looked at Callum.

"Drive!" she barked.

"Okay, just let me buckle up…" He did just that and she let out a frustrated growl.

"GO!"

"Fine! We're going!"

In the mirror, she could see that the man had noticed them and was approaching the car as Callum hit the gas. They pulled out of the parking lot and got back on the road, melting with the traffic on the interstate in a way that made it nigh-impossible for them to be found. She relaxed a little, tugging at the binding on her wrist out of habit.

"What was going on back there?" Callum asked.

"Keep yer eyes on the road, Callum."

"I just want to know why you were so freaked out."

"We're still bein' followed." He sighed, a look of understanding crossing his face.

"That makes sense. Okay, that's all you had to say."

"Here's your water, Callum!" chirped Ezran, handing the bottle up to Rayla so she could put it in the cupholder. "And one for you, too, Rayla."

"Thanks, Ezran." She sipped from the bottle and stared out the window at the countryside she hadn't been able to look at before.

_This is… kinda nice, actually…_

Her eyelids got heavy and she curled up in the seat, her head against the window as she fell asleep. Callum smiled at her as Ezran laughed a little.

"She was really tired, huh, Callum."

"Yeah, she was. That was why I wanted to switch. She's been driving since we left three days ago."

"Maybe we should stop in general sometime."

"We might have to."

Callum still watched her out of the corner of his eye. She looked so peaceful and serene while she was asleep—a far cry from the angry, sarcastic assassin he'd come to know over the past few days. A little part of him wanted to just keep her this way. He'd keep that to himself, though; chances were she'd slice him for saying as much.

* * *

Hiding Rayla on the train was simple. Hiding Zym, not so much.

After leaving the Moon Nexus, they'd come across a train station that had its last stop in a small town just ten miles from the border. Taking inventory of their belongings had yielded just enough cash for three train passes and the pet fare for Bait. Callum was suddenly grateful that his stepfather had insisted on paying his allowance in cash, since it had basically funded the entire journey thus far. Rayla looked a little apprehensive about the train until Ezran reassured her by promising that he and Callum would be by her side the entire ride to the border. All it took was her putting up her hood to get on and get past the conductors. Zym was hidden in Ezran's backpack, where the younger prince asked him to be quiet.

The lady who sold them tickets didn't ask any questions, since it was sundown and they must've gotten a lot of runaway kids at the station. Plus, she seemed like she wasn't exactly paying attention as she stamped the tickets and told them which platform to go on.

"How exactly does a train work?" Rayla asked as they headed down.

"Do… do you not have trains in Xadia?" Callum inquired.

"We do, just not in the Silvergrove. Most we have there is cars. And even those aren't used much. In my hometown, we walk almost everywhere."

"Okay, so basically, we're going to get on this train and it's going to move pretty fast. There are no seatbelts, and since it's later in the day and this train is going to an uncommon location, we're unlikely to have anybody else in the car we choose. This is the last one until tomorrow morning."

"All right, then."

The train pulled up pretty quickly, almost knocking Rayla back with the force of the wind that came with it. She hadn't been expecting it, hence why Callum grabbed her shoulder to steady her as the doors opened. They walked into it and found it just as empty as Callum had predicted. They found seats, Callum and Rayla taking the ones on the wall near the door and Ezran and Bait sitting on the ones that faced forward with the train. Ezran let Zym out, the baby dragon proceeding to immediately settle on his human's lap to fall asleep. Rayla glanced out the window as the train began to move, the sudden force of it knocking her into Callum's lap. Both of them stared at each other as their faces turned dark red. His hands were up, not touching her as she sat back upright.

"Are all trains like this?"

"Just the public ones. I heard Claudia say that girls have to be careful on trains like this because anybody could be on them."

"Well, _that's_ reassurin'…"

"Relax. Like I said, it's late and we don't have to worry since it's just us."

"Right. Just us."

There was silence save for the sound of the train and Ezran's humming as he petted Zym.

"…how long is this again?"

"Couple hours. But it's probably the fastest way to the border. Anything else would take at least half a day."

Rayla sighed, looking a lot more comfortable now as Callum took out his sketchbook to draw for a little while in the light they had. The steady pace of the train rocking was nice, not something she was used to when she rode in the car with Runaan and Ethari or on her bike back home. Not to mention she didn't have to worry about keeping her eyes on the road ahead. Her eyelids were already getting heavy again and she let her head drop a little. Yeah, she was still trying to catch up on sleep after everything that had happened (Soren and Claudia, abandoning the car, all the walking up to the Moon Nexus and then the station while she was keeping guard the entire time) and the train would allow her to do so. It would be fine; after all, it was only a couple hours.

He glanced over as he felt a weight rest on his shoulder and realized it was Rayla falling asleep. His cheeks heated up again but he didn't protest. She deserved a peaceful sleep of some kind after the events of the past couple weeks. If she wanted to use him as her pillow, he'd let her use him as her pillow. He chose to keep his eyes on his drawings, which he'd been working on absent-mindedly when they stopped, and he realized that he'd been drawing her. After half an hour, he smiled in satisfaction.

_That's enough for now…_

Callum closed his sketchbook and set it aside.

"Hey, Callum?" Ezran was looking at him.

"Yeah, Ez?"

"What's gonna happen when we get Zym back to the Dragon Queen?"

"The war will end and there'll be peace. You know that."

"No, I mean… when we go back to Katolis. What's gonna happen to Rayla?"

"She'll go back to the Silvergrove."

"And we won't see her again?"

"Probably not."

"…does she have to?"

"Ez, she has a family." Callum felt his heart twist.

_Oh, you still don't know…_

"But I like her, Callum. I don't want to say goodbye."

"Me either."

* * *

Staring into the pool in the Silvergrove felt so bizarre.

Even more so was staring at her flower that floated on top. It was alone, the others having gone down with the elves they were matched to. She felt like she was going to cry. All of them were gone—Ailsa, Runaan, Niall, Lexine, Balgair. She was the only survivor and she'd been ghosted.

"Rayla."

She looked to see Callum with Zym. He still had those _stupid_ fake horns on his head, but as much as she wanted to punch him she couldn't. He was still right there beside her. He'd gotten angry at Ethari on _her_ behalf. Seeing Callum angry was a rare sight to begin with and he'd gotten angry because of the way she was treated. Zym was perched on his shoulder, looking concerned at her sad face.

"None of them made it," she told Callum, feeling very small. "Only me."

"Rayla… I'm sorry."

She pulled her dark green hood over her head and pulled on the strings so that it tightened around her face.

"Hey. No. Don't do that."

Rayla loosened it just enough to peek one eye out at him. He was still there. She still had Callum, even if the rest of her people had banished her because of her failure. It was because of her failure that she had Callum and Zym. And Ezran, too.

She could hear footsteps approaching and then she could see Ethari reflected beside her in the water. He held his hand to her, which she took. Suddenly, she could see his face again and he sighed.

"I was never as strong as the others. This will only break the spell for a moment but I couldn't _bear_ to let ya leave without seein' ya one last time."

The tears were stinging in her eyes but she kept from crying.

"_Why_, Rayla? Why did you abandon them?"

"I didn't want to, but I didn't run away! We found something. Callum, show him."

"Trees to meet you," Callum told Ethari upon walking over, bowing slightly.

"Trees to meet you, too," Ethari replied, returning the bow.

"Don't humor him."

As if on cue, Zym hopped onto her shoulder and let out a little yip at Ethari.

"We found the Dragon Prince. The egg wasn't destroyed."

"It's a miracle… but Rayla, you need to know that the Dragon Queen is dyin'. I'll send a message for her to hold on. For now, you need to get to her as soon as possible. Wait here a moment."

He disappeared into the garage that was situated under the house. Rayla's eyes widened; she knew what Ethari was getting. There was a rumble and her foster father emerged on her bike—one that he'd spent hours teaching her how to maintain and helping her fix up. It even still had the sidecar from when Ethari had been teaching her how to drive the damn thing. Runaan had called it their first father-daughter project and the mission to assassinate Harrow and Ezran the second. She smiled, tears coming to her eyes as he hopped off it and extended the keys to her, which she accepted with a hug around his waist as he returned the embrace.

"I'll bring it back to ya," she promised.

"It's _your_ bike, Rayla," he laughed. "You can ride faster than you can walk. Good luck."

She hopped onto the bike and motioned for Callum to get in the sidecar. He did so with Zym sitting on his lap and their belongings at his feet. As she revved the engine, Ethari's face once again disappeared and she hit the gas to head out of the Silvergrove.

* * *

"Shut up!"

Rayla looked up at him in shock, one eye peeking out of her tightened hood.

"What?"

"Just shut up, you're talking crazy. Just listen to me. You're too good to feel this bad about yourself. I know that and you should know that." He helped her to her feet. "You have true courage, and a big heart. I've seen you get knocked down so many times before and every single time, you get up again. That's real strength. And… and you're ten times funnier than any human I know."

Rayla let out a laugh, the sound music to his ears as he pulled her further from the water.

"See? See, you know you're amazing. You're smart, and fast, and beautiful." He loosened her hood and pushed it back so he could see her entire beautiful face. "Rayla, you're the most amazing person I've ever met."

She was smiling at him and she moved a little closer and then suddenly _wait her lips are on mine augh what do I do—_

As she pulled away, her expression turned to one of confusion as he tried to process what had just happened. His mouth was moving faster than his brain in that moment as he blinked.

"That's… not what I was expecting."

"Y-you were sayin' all those things, so I thought…"

"No, I mean, I wasn't saying those things so you would…" Her eyes widened and she gasped, turning away from him.

"We will _never_ speak of this again. Do you understand?"

"Of course. Of course. Yeah, I do."

"No, I mean _never_. I will _bind myself_ to killin' ya if ya even _mention_—"

"Why would I?" he scoffed nervously. "I-I mean, no!"

"We walk away, and this _never happened_." She balled her hands into fists and headed back towards their campsite.

"Perfect!"

He facepalmed in embarrassment.

_Great. Way to go, Callum. Now she doesn't think you're interested at all. Perfect way to get her to like you back!_

"Callum, where's Zym?"

"What?"

"Nyx is gone, too. Wait…"

He rushed over just in time to hear her yell.

"SON OF A BITCH!"

Callum followed Rayla's gaze to see that her bike had been partially dismantled, the sidecar lying on the ground nearby. She let out a growl before she opened a compartment on the back to reveal a toolbox and a few spare parts.

"Hold this! We're goin' after that cunt!"

He held the toolbox, swallowing nervously. Even though she'd told him to forget their kiss by the water had ever happened, he couldn't. Because he'd screwed up. He'd made Rayla think he wasn't interested in her that way when the truth was _very much_ the opposite. He hadn't been complimenting her to make her want to… do _that_. He'd been trying to make her stop kicking herself when she was so amazing. Now she was furiously repairing what Nyx had done so they could save the baby dragon they had to get back to his mother.

"No gettin' the sidecar back now. There's no time. We'll have to ride together."

Callum tried to protest, but she was already finished and getting onto the bike, motioning for him to follow. He tried to sit apart from her to give her some space, but she snapped her head to look at him.

"Nope. You're gonna fall off if ya do that. Just hold onto me."

Wordlessly he obeyed, wrapping his arms around her waist as she hit the gas. They were off again. He'd never been on a motorcycle before he met Rayla and part of him wanted to always be like this—going off on adventures with a gorgeous elf girlfriend who could kick his ass and would probably do so upon his request. But then he remembered he'd screwed up and they wouldn't be together like that anytime soon. Or at all.

That was before they caught up with the ambler, the creature stopping as soon as Nyx leapt off it and Rayla swung on a rope to the ground holding onto him. He thought his heart was going to stop for a second as Zym leapt onto him. Then Rayla saved Nyx and her bike and they got onto the ambler again.

"You are so…" Callum sighed to her.

_Make a move, dumbass._

He captured her lips in a kiss and broke away to find her staring at him.

"Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to—next thing I knew, my lips were getting way ahead of me and—" She rolled her eyes.

"Shut up."

She grabbed him by his scarf and yanked him closer, kissing him again. Electricity (not from Fulminous) shot through his body. They broke apart and he could only say one thing.

_"Wow."_

They kissed one final time as the ambler continued on into the night.

* * *

**Like I said, it was a highlight reel, not shot-for-shot recreation.**

** So long and thanks for all the fish!**


End file.
